Kevin is the recruiting coordinator at a D1 program in the Southeast, and he’s excited about this coming recruiting season.
He’s a SFC Premium Member, and he’s used us as a resource in helping him develop a real recruiting plan for the 2007-2008 season. He’s focused on getting the right message to the right prospects in the right way.
But wait! I had to stop Kevin in his tracks late last week on the phone when I realized that he was putting together his plan without any special focus on the parents of his athletes. Why does he need a special plan for parents? Glad you asked…
In a soon to be released special report, we surveyed 250 of the top college football prospects in the country for 2007-2008. We asked them, in detail, about their recruiting experiences: What they like, what they read, and how they decide where to play ball. It was a fascinating study, with loads of insightful findings for college coaches (SFC Premium Members will get it first at no charge, and it will be available to everyone else in a week or so…are you a Premium Member yet?).
One of the biggest surprises: How much weight football prospects place on the opinion of their parents. 91.3% of the prospects we surveyed said that the opinion of their parent(s) was either a "very important" or "important" outside factor that influenced their decision. That’s 9 out of 10 of your prospects that are looking to their parents to help them make their final decision!
So, my question for you is this, coach: How much emphasis do you put on recruiting your prospect’s
parents? According to our findings that we outlined above, its important that you create a separate and distinct plan to recruit the parents of your prospect at the same time you recruit your prospect.
Here are some ways that you can make sure you don’t overlook one of the most important people in the recruiting process…the parents of your prospect!
- Create a separate recruiting plan that focuses solely on parents. If you’re a Premium Member, you’ll get the framework for a plan for approaching your prospect’s parents. Create separate communication with them, and make it regular.
- Use e-mail to talk regularly with parents. Studies show that parents now rely on e-mail more than kids. They check it more frequently, and reply more quickly. Make it a point to get the e-mail address of your prospect’s parents, and communicate regularly with them.
- Put together an informative packet just for parents. Include some of the things that don’t get read right now by your prospects. Many parents will act as an advocate for you and your program once you show them that their opinion and value in the recruiting process is of the highest importance to you.
- Make at least one phone call to them to make sure they are getting their questions answered. Take some time to find out what concerns they have, what insights they can give you about their son or daughter, and how you can make the process go as smoothly as possible for them. This is a huge way to set yourself apart from your competition who is focused completely on the athlete, and is largely ignoring the parents.
Rocket science? No. Important? Absolutely. But it takes discipline to change how you recruit so that you put a renewed emphasis on getting the parents on your side.
If you take the time to create a trusted relationship with the parents, you’ll win the athlete much of the time. Parents have huge influences over their children (even the rebellious tenage sports-playing ones!) and you need to take advantage of their influence in the recruiting process.
